Saturday, June 23, 2012

Hammer of the Gods

Car manufacturers shouldn't be setting up shop in Islamizing countries like Turkey

Toyota's been attacked for trying to restrict Muslim prayer among their employees at the factory they own in Turkey. Honestly, why are they wasting their time there? Even Renault, which to my knowledge has until now been maintaining at least one factory in Turkey, shouldn't be doing their building there if the employees are going to be causing these kind of problems. Just because it's "cheaper" doesn't mean it benefits long-term with this kind of galling behavior running amok. If they were smart, they'd arrange to set up factories over here in Israel, where they'd find that there's workers in Jewish society who could do the work for them, and even those who could work on Saturday too if they really need it.

With creeping sharia in Turkey, it's about time they close shop there and turn to other places where they'd find employees more up to the task, including the USA, where Renault might want to try selling their cars and trucks again.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey will take retaliatory steps against Syria for the downing of one of its military jets, President Abdullah Gul said Saturday, even as he suggested that the aircraft may have violated Syrian airspace.

It was not clear if Gul was suggesting military retaliation, increased sanctions against Syria or other possible steps, including demands for an apology, and his aide would not comment on his words. But Faruk Celik, Turkey's Labor and Social Security Minister, said Turkey would retaliate "either in the diplomatic field or give other types of response."

"Even if we assume that there was a violation of Syria's airspace — though the situation is still not clear — the Syrian response cannot be to bring down the plane," Celik told reporters.

"The incident is unacceptable," he said. "Turkey cannot endure it in silence."

Syria said Friday its forces had shot down a Turkish military plane that entered its air space. The plane, an unarmed F-4, went down in the Mediterranean Sea about 8 miles (13 kilometers) from the Syrian town of Latakia, Turkey said.

The incident further escalated tensions between Syria and NATO-member Turkey. The two neighbors used to be allies before the Syrian revolt began in March 2011, but Turkey has become one of the strongest critics of the Syrian regime's brutal response to the country's uprising and is playing host to civilian and military Syrian opposition groups.

In Baghdad, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said the recent defection of a Syrian pilot to Jordan and the downing of the Turkish jet showed that the Syrian conflict could have far-reaching repercussions.

"Our main concern is the spillover of the crisis into neighborhood countries. No country is immune from this spillover," he said. "If this conflict were to turn into all-out sectarian or civil war, Iraq would be affected, Lebanon would be affected, Jordan would not be immune, Turkey could be (affected)."

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said he was "greatly worried" by the incident, urged a thorough investigation and welcomed Turkey's cool-headed reaction in the incident's immediate aftermath.

"Everything must be done to ensure that there won't be any further escalation in the already tense region,' he said in a statement.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davuoglu chaired a meeting Saturday with military officials during which they discussed possible steps and a search and rescue mission for the two missing pilots, the Foreign Ministry said. There was no announcement after the meeting.

Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc insisted the plane was not a fighter jet but a reconnaissance plane and said Turkey was awaiting an explanation from Syria.

The president said Turkey was still trying to establish the exact circumstances of the incident, but said it was "routine" for jets flying in high-speeds to unintentionally violate other countries' air spaces for short periods of time.

"These incidents are routine," Gul said. "They are incidents that are not ill-intentioned and happen because of the speeds (of the jets)."

"Was that the case, or did (the incident) occur in our own air space, these facts will emerge," he said. "No one should have any doubt that whatever (action) is necessary will be taken."

Gul did not elaborate. But Turkey said after an April border shooting incident — in which two people inside a Turkish refugee camp died— that it would call on its NATO allies to intervene should it feel its security was being threatened.

Syrian coast guards joined Turkish coast guards in their search for the jet's two missing crew members for a second day Saturday, Arinc, the deputy prime minister said. Gul said earlier that some pieces of the wreckage had been found.

Late Friday, Syria's state-run news agency, SANA, said the military had spotted an "unidentified aerial target" flying at low altitude and high speed.

"The Syrian anti-air defenses counteracted with anti-aircraft artillery, hitting it directly," SANA said. "The target turned out to be a Turkish military plane that entered Syrian airspace and was dealt with according to laws observed in such cases."

Syria claimed the jet violated its air space over territorial waters, penetrating about 1 kilometer (0.62 mile). It said Syrian forces only realized that it was a Turkish jet after firing.

On Saturday, the banner headline of Turkish newspaper Hurriyet accused Syria of "Playing with Fire," while Vatan newspaper said Syria would "pay the price" for the attack.

Arinc and other government ministers however, urged restraint.

"We must remain calm and collected," he said. "We must not give premium to any provocative speeches and acts."

The leader of Turkey's main opposition party, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, said the downing of the plane was unacceptable but also urged calm.

"All diplomatic channels must be kept open. We are expecting a coolheaded assessment of the incident," he added.

President Barack Obama, in a strikingly personal appeal, renewed his call for an overhaul of America’s immigration laws before a supportive Latino audience Friday. He portrayed rival Mitt Romney as an obstacle to measures that would give young illegal immigrants a path to citizenship.

“These are all our kids,” he declared.

To a standing ovation, Obama spoke of his directive last week that immigrants brought illegally to the United States as children be exempted from deportation and granted work permits if they applied.

Reflecting on his own life as the first African-American president, he said: “When I meet these young people, all throughout communities, I see myself. Who knows what they might achieve? I see my daughters, and my nieces, and my nephews.”

We Can Not Trust You With Knives and Forks

One wouldn’t think so, given the hundreds of lunches and dinners he’s attended ranging from state dinners to political fundraisers to run-of-the-mill stops on the rubber-chicken circuit.

However, at one such lunch Friday afternoon, guests heard an unusual announcement that they needed to hand over their silverware for security reasons.

“It’s very important that you use your utensils as soon as possible,” National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials board member Raquel Regalado told about 1000 delegates at the group’s annual conference.

Regalado hurried the diners to finish up their salads and pre-cut chicken breasts, saying that the Secret Service required that there be no knives at the tables and that the forks be rounded up before Obama entered the room.

“As you know, we’re having another speaker and there is some Secret Service involved. So there’s a reason why there’s no knives at your table and the forks will be collected. . . . And I’m not joking,” Regalado told the audience in a ballroom at Disney’s Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World. “So, like the good Hispanic mother I’m here to tell you to please, eat your lunch.”

Sandusky Found Guilty

He faces 450 years, or something like that.

Joe Paterno, Sandusky's wife, and the others who ignored what must have been overwhelming evidence, will never serve any time for their contributions to running a stable of boy whores for this monster.

Friday, June 22, 2012

You wouldn't believe how badly it burns me up to be on the phone with Citibank asking them to please waive a $35 late fee on my mortgage (the first time I've been late on the mortgage through this whole unemployment mess and that only by a week) while at the same time Fox is on the TeeVee talking about how Citibank (among others) just had theircredit rating cut.

Daily Beast:Member of Egyptian Terror Group Goes to WashingtonJun 21, 2012 7:52 PM EDTTerrorists aren’t supposed to get visas. But Hani Nour Eldin was apparently invited to D.C. this week to meet with top officials. Did no one Google him?

It was supposed to be a routine meeting for Egyptian legislators in Washington, an opportunity for senior Obama administration officials to meet with new members of Egypt’s parliament and exchange ideas on the future of relations between the two countries.

Instead, the visit this week looks like it’s turning into a political fiasco. Included in the delegation of Egyptian lawmakers was Hani Nour Eldin, who, in addition to being a newly elected member of parliament, is a member of the Gamaa Islamiya, or the Egyptian Islamic Group—a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. The group was banned under former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, and is now a recognized Islamist political party. Its spiritual leader, Omar Abdel Rahman—also known as the “blind sheik”—was convicted in 1995 of plotting attacks on New York City landmarks and transportation centers, and is serving a life sentence in a North Carolina federal prison.

Eldin, according to his Facebook page, was born in 1968 and resides in Suez, near the canal that unites the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea. He was arrested in 1993 on terrorism charges after members of Gamaa Islamiya got into a shoot out with Egyptian security officials at a mosque. He has proclaimed his innocence in the shooting and says he was arrested because of his political activism against Mubarak.

In an interview, Eldin confirmed he is a member of Gamaa Islamiya. By U.S. law, that means he would be denied a visa to enter the country. Nonetheless, he says, he got a visa from the State Department. A State Department spokesman said, “We have no information suggesting that he or anyone else in the delegation is a member of the Egyptian Islamic Group.”

Eldin said in the interview that he is not a terrorist. "I have taken the American visa from the embassy as a member of the parliament representing a political party that has been elected and is a legitimate party," he said. "I was personally not involved in any violent action or terrorism against the United States or any other country. The years I spent in prison were under the regime of Mubarak, these were political charges and there was no judicial basis for them."

In his meetings with senior Obama administration officials, Eldin says, he asked Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough about transferring Abdel-Rahman to an Egyptian prison. He said his request was declined. “When I raised this issue in the White House I was told it was not in their authority and all judicial issues relating to sentences must be discussed with the Department of Justice,” he says. Transferring Abdel-Rahman, says Eldin, “would be a gift to the revolution.” McDonough didn’t reply to requests for comment made Thursday afternoon.

In addition to being convicted of planning the 1993 World Trade Center attack, Abdel-Rahman is also a cause celebre for radical Islamic fundamentalists, including al Qaeda, who have at times demanded his release.

Juan Zarate, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a former deputy national security adviser for counter-terrorism under President George W. Bush, said it looked like the Obama administration made a mistake by allowing Eldin to visit the U.S. "The United States has to walk a fine line when engaging extremists who are now entering the political process amidst revolution,” he said.

Samuel Tadros, an Egyptian citizen and research fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington D.C. who specializes in Egyptian politics was surprised that Eldin would receive a visa. “It would have taken the State Department five seconds to Google his name in Arabic and realize he is a member of a designated terrorist organization,” he said.

As a member of a terrorist organization, Eldin would, by U.S. law, be denied entry. Nonetheless, he got a visa.

Eldin is a member of parliament for the Building and Development party in Egypt, which some Egypt watchers say is an arm of Gamaa Islamiya.

While in Washington, Eldin also visited the Wilson Center, a think tank that specializes in foreign policy issues. A State Department spokesman said the delegation was “invited to Washington by the Wilson Center. I refer you to the Wilson Center for any additional information on their visit.”

A spokesman for the Wilson Center, however, said the delegation was selected by the State Department. “We can’t speak to the background of Eldin,” said Drew Sample the media relations coordinator for the Wilson Center. “The Wilson Center was one of the places on the delegation’s Washington visit. We did not invite these people, the State Department arranged the visit.”

The fifth House Homeland Security Committee hearing on radicalization within the Muslim community ended Wednesday much as last year's inaugural hearing began: With committee Democrats criticizing the premise and diminishing the views of witnesses.

The hearing, "The American Muslim Response to Hearings on Radicalization within their Community," featured three Muslim American activists describing their first-hand experiences identifying and challenging extremist viewpoints and visceral reaction that often generates.

Those accounts were largely dismissed, however, as representatives stuck to talking points about the horrible harm they saw being caused by the very discussion. Ranking Democrat Bennie Thompson of Mississippi worried the hearings helped "provide a Congressional stamp of approval for groups that espouse anti-Muslim beliefs" and fuel anti-Muslim hate crimes.

None of the critics offered an example of any crime which was in any way connected to the congressional hearings.

Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., invoked the Japanese internment camps during World War II.

That left Chairman Peter King, R-N.Y., frustrated. He cited a statement by Attorney General Eric Holder that there was a crisis of radicalization to violence within the Muslim-American community. Past testimony showed "[t]he threat posed by radicalized Muslim-Americans is a clear and present danger to homeland security," he said in his prepared remarks. Widely accessible videos and books in prison libraries fuel the radicalization, he noted. And classified information shows a growing problem of Islamist extremism within U.S. military ranks has reached a "truly eye-popping amount of ongoing cases."

From Pamela at Atlas Shrrugs: National Islamist [sic] organizations like the Council on American-Islamic Relations tracked the hearing with chapter leaders posting a stream of criticism on Twitter. "No such thing as Islamism," Michigan Director Dawud Walid claimed. "Is there Christianism or Jewishism?"

Yet, the discussion remained blocked by partisanship.

That's by design, witnesses said.

"If you label anybody that addresses this [as] an Islamophobe or a bigot, it stifles free speech," said ZuhdiJasser, founder of theAmerican-Islamic Forum for Democracy and a member of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. "It prevents us from dealing with the very issue that we need to."

He said he hoped the hearings could serve as "a dialogue to bridge between those who see no problem in the Muslim community and those who see all Muslims as a problem."

For all the talk of fueling anti-Muslim sentiment, the hearings provide a chance to explain the distinction between the faith of Islam and the politics of Islamism, said Qanta Ahmed, a writer and physician who treats 9/11 first responders.

One is a faith, she said. The other is political ideology. For all the rhetoric, nothing debated in the radicalization hearings has crimped her ability to practice her religion. "I am more free to worship here than in any Muslim majority nation," she said. "Our rights are not at risk. That gets lost in the debate."

King echoed that, saying "none of the nightmare scenarios anticipated by the media ever occurred. No religious war broke out. Not one bigoted word was uttered during the four investigative hearings we held."

There is a cultural element in play, said former Wall Street Journal reporter AsraNomani. Many Muslims have become what she called "wound collectors," citing a phrase created by an FBI agent. They cling to ancient grievances, dating back to the Crusades, and quickly turn defensive and in denial to any outside criticism.

The Quran calls on people to stand for justice, she said, even if it's within your own community. That's often easier said than done, and for Muslims like herself it creates "a culture clash where you can't talk to each other."

National Islamist organizations like the Council on American-Islamic Relations tracked the hearing with chapter leaders posting a stream of criticism on Twitter. "No such thing as Islamism," Michigan Director Dawud Walid claimed. "Is there Christianism or Jewishism?"

The term is not an invention by non-Muslims, though. The Muslim Brotherhood uses it, and this website is devoted to it.

In the inaugural hearing last year, California Democrat Jackie Speier denigrated the panelists' experiences, calling them anecdotes that offered little from which to learn. Rep. Laura Richardson, D-Calif., picked up that theme Wednesday, comparing the witness testimony to an episode of "Oprah."

Future hearings need more authoritative witnesses, she said, or else it's "similar to a community town hall that does not rise to the level of U.S. Congress."

King angrily rebutted that, noting the committee often presents classified briefings to its members.

Faiza Patel, co-director of New York University Law School's Liberty and National Security Program, stressed her view that signs of stricter religious practices among Muslims were not signs of a trend toward violent radicalization. She rejected the notion offered by some in law enforcement of a "conveyor belt" of radicalization, saying it does nothing to help identify those with potential to engage in terrorism.

Former Senator Tells Congress U.S. Must Provide Israel With 200 Bunker-Busters And Aerial Refueling Aircraft For Strike On Iran

From Haaretz:

Former Senator Charles Robb co-chairman of the Bipartisan Policy Center said that in order to perform a successful attack on Iran Israel’s aerial refueling capabilities and bunker-buster bomb stores need to be enhanced.

Robb, who was giving testimony at a Congress subcommittee, presented the material gaps in the IDF’s preparedness for an attack on Iran, and called on the United States to provide Israel with KC-135 aerial refueling military aircrafts and 200 bunker-busting munitions to supplement the 100 Israel already holds.

During his testimony Robb warned that an Israeli attack on Iran carries with it the danger that the aerial attack will fail to achieve its objective – deterring Iran from rehabilitating its nuclear program or completely negating its ability to do so.

According to Robb, whether or not the attack is successful, Iran and its proxies and especially Hezbollah are expected to respond. This would include terror attacks around the world and a rise in the price of oil. Despite this, the possibility that Iran would obtain nuclear weapons was more dangerous.

Robb added that expanding Israeli and American capabilities to attack Iran would help pressure Iran in its negotiations and help convince the countries purchasing oil from Iran to adhere to the limits imposed on them.

According to Robb, supplying Israel with aerial refueling aircrafts and bunker-busting munitions would help alleviate Israeli fears and thus will contribute to postponing an attack. And if an attack is in the end to take place it is better it be successful than if it failed.

Robb said that the 100 GBU-28 bunker-busters the U.S. provided Israel with, in 2006, were no longer enough and that Israel required 200 bombs of the improved GBU-31 model. This model, he explained, can be dropped from the same planes (F-15s and F-16s) and have the same penetration capabilities, but their tail kits are more advanced allowing for more accuracy.

The result of this, according to Robb, would be more devastating damage to Iran’s underground facilities, a larger attack fleet, and the opening of possibility for a second round of attacks, in case these are needed.

What some leftists seem to think of Bill Willingham's Fables

I once brought up the subject of Bill Willingham's comics series called Fables and its spinoffs, though when I did, it was mostly to cite how the man has an unfortunate problem (insulting or downright offensive stances on women) that undermines any impact he could make with his pro-Israel stand and criticism of Islam. I thought I'd bring up the series itself again, because I'd found a little string of commentary about Fables on the left-wing Captain Comics site that might offer a little bit more insight to the comics/graphic novels, even though Willingham's done enough that you'd have to take a lot of what he writes with a grain of salt. And, it can also tell just what goes on inside a leftard's mind, which can help if you need to figure out how to deal with them. It begins when one commentor on that post with the weird screenname of "Figserello" says:

Ali Baba's Muslims are presented as duplicitous hypocrites with a nonsensical baroque religion, who are concealing a weapon of mass destruction when we meet them. Everything has its context. I found it extremely distasteful to put something like that out at a time when the neocons were using similar arguments to justify the pounding of Muslim families into mincemeat. Typical fawning approval on BW's part for those who hold the whip hand.

On the one hand, where Willingham earns points is by drawing up an allusion to Saddam's attempts to develop WMDs (if that refers to any recent stories, then we can assume Iran's also been added to the list of allusions in the series). On the other hand, the commentor earns serious demerits for inciting against "neocons" by implying it's "families" they're after in the war against Islamofascism. I guess that means it's okay for him/her if Muslim families adhere to the Koranic belief in honor murders and butcher a daughter who doesn't want to be part of the ummah? Tsk tsk. Another commentor at least had the decency to say:

I do think we should be careful about assuming an author's intent based on a character's actions as I remember when Kurt Busiek was similarly accused of an anti-Muslim bias for introducing Infidel into Astro City

But he dampens his impact by suggesting that something's wrong with being critical of Islam. Are we to assume that if Busiek had intro'd a character with a name like "Apostate" into his book, that he'd be doing wrong there too? Or if he'd intro'd an Armenian cast member? Please.

I've just read the first part of the Arabian Nights (and Days) collection. The whole of the story about the genie in the bottle.

In it we find that those Muslims are untrustworthy duplicitous schemers who have no respect for human rights, have a meaninglessly baroque religion and who connive in hiding weapons of mass destruction when they should be negotiating in good faith and even the best of them are just unthinking dupes.

Whatever sins or failings the peoples of Muslim nations like Iraq and Afghanistan had been guilty of, by the time this story was published they had been hammered halfway back to the stone-age. So I don't really see the point of Willingham's aligning his little tale against them like this. Reading Willingham's story made me think of someone happening on a hit-and-run victim on the road and spitting on them before walking on his merry way.

By the time Willingham wrote this, Blackwater and Haliburton were well on their way to appropriating their billions from the US coffers for the wars in the Middle East, and Rumsfield and Cheney didn't really need Willingham cheering them on from the sidelines and justifying the west's wars in Muslim countries. But he still decided to echo the standard Fox lines in his little entertainment.

So on the one hand, the plus side of Willingham's work is that he's willing to allude to just what Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote, had to say about the Moors in his time - "trust no Moors they're all deceitful." On the other, the poster is sabotaging his/her whole take by blatantly attacking Blackwater and even the company Michael Moore was profiting from. And he/she ignores the elephant in the room - the Religion of Rape itself. He/she then goes on to say about the 8th book Wolves:

As for Operation Israel, I'll just point out the rather one-eyed view of Israel's battle tactics and leave it at that.

Oh, I do beggeth thy pardon? Is that supposed to be an assault on Israel's right to self-defense? What a disgrace this commentor is. Now, what does he/she say about book 10 "The Good Prince":

Other parts of the pattern are the romaticisation of the morality of wolves, Bigby's use of his powers to protect 'state security' to entrap and murder people he doesn't like (Obadiah Crane), Cinderella, the working class 'princess', being the only one who has to prostitute herself to get by, the Animal Farm and democratic movement's 'revolutions' being shown as misguided, and Willingham's unquestioning echoing of the Fox News line regarding the Muslims in the story.

As someone who doesn't take a naive stance on FOX News and Murdoch's associations with al-Waleed bin Talal, this makes me giggle. Because as anyone who's viewed them carefully in the past couple of years knows, it's not like FOX has been literally critical of the Religion of Rape since a year after bin Talal bought a share of NewsCorp. Yes, there are some few times when they're willing to bring on say, Geert Wilders and allow him the right to free speech, but most of the time? I can only say they're hopeless.

Oh well, with that told, let's now turn to the downside of Bill Willingham that may have resurfaced in one of the spinoffs called Fairest. In this review:

The second issue, however, confirmed my poor impression. In this issue, Briar Rose is at least fully awake and on the run with Ali Baba. The scenario has potential and the arguments between the two characters have a nice Moonlighting element to them. However, that characterization is undercut by Jonah the genie’s diatribe about women. Briar had argued that she could keep up with Ali, an argument that is patently false based on their relative fitness. But rather than noting that a pampered princess can’t outrun a trained thief, Jonah launches into a rant about how women aren’t as good as men. As he says, “That’s why marathons give out two awards, one to the real champion and another to the first female finisher.” I was dumbfounded. I thought Billie Jean King had settled this issue in 1973 when she defeated Bobby Riggs. Ali Baba is faster and has more endurance because he’s in good physical shape and Briar Rose is not.

One might defend Fairest by noting that a character makes this statement and not necessarily the writer. However, I’m not sure that defense holds in this case. The genie is generally deferred to as a knowledgeable, almost omniscient character. Plus, Bill Willingham didn’t have to include the diatribe at all. It speaks poorly of him that he chose to write it when it has little to do with either the story or the main characters. Instead, it reads like an anti-feminist statement in a series that’s supposed to appeal to those who are interested in rich female characters.

First, I want to warn that the man who wrote that review once had a positive position on DC Comics' misogynist screed called Identity Crisis, so whether the description of the going-ons in Fairest are accurate, it could be that he's not saying this altruistically, and thus, the review will have to be taken with a grain of salt. But if this synopsis about what the genie's saying is correct, then how does Willingham reconcile that with his pro-Israel stance or even his critical positions on the Religion of Rape? Willingham already came under fire several years ago for participating in the War Games/War Crimes crossover in Batman and writing an issue of Robin in 2004 that saw Stephanie Brown being tortured with a drill by Black Mask, Dr. Leslie Thompkins pegged as killing Stephanie to make a crazy point to Batman about her oppsition to vigilantism, and even turning the Silver Age Atom's ex-wife Jean Loring into a new Eclipso in the Day of Vengeance miniseries, and more specifically, into something even more demonic. Now, he's providing his detractors with more ammo to use against him by writing a "knowledgable" genie making insulting cracks about women's fitness? Good grief. It does undermine the right-wing positions, I'm afraid.

I think the biggest problem with Willingham is surely that he's a loose cannon, and if that's the kind of position he's going to take on women's rights, he's hardly qualified for the kind of political metaphorical commentary Fables is supposed to be about. But neither is the man who wrote that review of his latest Fables spinoff if he's going to approve of Identity Crisis, a miniseries with a misogynist approach to storytelling among other elements that are still tainting much of DC's output to this very day. And Willingham's work at the time did have some connections to Identity Crisis, and even followed up on it, so personally, I'm dumbfounded if say, Brad Meltzer gets a pass but Willingham does not. If that's how the man's going to opine, then his own argument about Willingham's bias falls flat on its face right alongside Willingham's work containing bad biases.

U.S. intelligence agencies are closely watching Israel’s military for signs it will conduct strikes on Syria’s stockpiles of chemical weapons, amid concerns the deadly nerve agents could fall under the control of Hezbollah or al Qaeda terrorists, U.S. officials said.

Syria’s arsenal remains vulnerable as the result of the internal conflict currently underway in Syria between government forces and opposition rebels, one official said.

“Everyone suspects Syria maintains an active chemical weapons program; and it would be dangerous not to plan accordingly,” the official said.

As for concerns the weapons will be captured or transferred, the official said: “Most countries that have CW stocks view it as a strategic, not tactical, tool—and strategic tools are usually pretty well protected and aren’t given away lightly.”

However, other U.S. officials said special operations forces are prepared to take action inside Syria in the event the regime falls and the country spirals further into chaos. The teams would seek to secure or destroy stockpiles of chemical arms to keep them from being taken over by terrorists. Hezbollah has been very active in Syria, and there are reports that al Qaeda terrorists have moved into Syria during the current crisis.

The exact size of the Syrian chemical arsenal is not known. The Center for Strategic and International Studies reported several years ago that Syria has stockpiled 500 to 1,000 metric tons of chemical agents. The weapons are said to include long-lasting VX nerve agent and less-persistent Sarin nerve agent, as well as mustard blister agents.

Most but not all of the weapons stockpiles are known to U.S. intelligence agencies.

TheNew York TimesreportedThursday that CIA operatives are working in southern Turkey to coordinate foreign assistance to Syrian rebel forces.

Recent statements by senior Israeli military officials prompted U.S. concerns over an Israeli strike on Syria.

And after 10 years we are all the way back to WMD.

Humanitarian considerations aside the USA has NO INTERESTS in Syria. We either have Assad (a mafia prick) or the Muslim Brotherhood (religious pricks). This is not unlike the choices between Mubarak (a more friendly prick, but a prick) or the Muslim Brotherhood (religious pricks). It is also not different from Israel’s choice int he West Bank and Gaza, with the PLA (mafioso pricks) and HAMAS - the Muslim Brotherhood (religious pricks).

We have nothing to gain. If Israel wants to conduct raids to seize or destroy Syrian WMD, how about we just say, ‘Hope you intel is good, and godspeed’.

That would be pleasant, and screw Iran, Hezballah, and Putin. Any president should throw his hat onto the ice (well almost any prez).

More evidence even the LEFT is getting tired of it: “Member of Egyptian Terror Group Goes to Washington”

The DailyBeast is for purposes Newsweek, measurably left of center

Terrorists aren’t supposed to get visas. But Hani Nour Eldin was apparently invited to D.C. this week to meet with top officials. Did no one Google him?

It was supposed to be a routine meeting for Egyptian legislators in Washington, an opportunity for senior Obama administration officials to meet with new members of Egypt’s parliament and exchange ideas on the future of relations between the two countries.Instead, the visit this week looks like it’s turning into a political fiasco. Included in the delegation of Egyptian lawmakers was Hani Nour Eldin, who, in addition to being a newly elected member of parliament, is a member of the Gamaa Islamiya, or the Egyptian Islamic Group—a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. The group was banned under former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, and is now a recognized Islamist political party. Its spiritual leader, Omar Abdel Rahman—also known as the “blind sheik”—was convicted in 1995 of plotting attacks on New York City landmarks and transportation centers, and is serving a life sentence in a North Carolina federal prison.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Game Over IV: 75% of Egyptian-Americans Who Vote In Egyptian Elections Vote For Muslim Brotherhood Candidate

Both Alarabiya TV and Egyptian national TV reported that Egyptian immigrants voted 75% in favor of the Muslim Brotherhood candidate in the primary. Now in the final elections, again Egyptian immigrants voted over 75% for Mursi.

If we consider the Christian Egyptian Americans who voted for the former prime minister of Egypt, the percentage of Muslim Egyptian Americans who voted for Islamists could have reached over 95%.

While voters inside Egypt are almost equally split 50/50 between Sharia and no-Sharia, we find the votes of American Egyptian Muslims reflecting an unprecedented level of radicalization that surpasses most Muslim countries. This should be very troubling to Americans, especially to those who care about Homeland Security.

Over the last 3 or 4 decades, American Islamic groups and mosques have managed to radicalize a large number of Muslim Americans, especially those who attend mosques. While they publicly tell us they are “moderate” and that there is nothing to fear from Islamic law, they turn around in private and hold the banner of jihad and Sharia and command Muslim Americans not to assimilate in America.

They are Jihadist traitors to this country.

They are dangerous, whether or not they have acquired citizenship.

If they have acquired citizenship, and they still adhere to such backward beliefs, that means they would vote in American elections to support the imposition of Sharia Law - which absolutely bans Freedom of Conscience/Speech - in this nation.

We can not have people like this here.

They ought to get out of this country immediately and go live in the Sharia Shithole of their choosing.

Sharia is Sedition and they are Seditious monsters living among us; a danger to the Republic.

Can Islam be defeated by the end of the century?

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spelled out his long term vision for the coming century in his speech to the President's Conference Thursday. In it, he said that militant Islam will be defeated by the end of the century, and that in the intervening decades, the challenge before the free countries is to prevent rogue states from developing weapons of mass destruction.

You can watch the video or read the text at the link. We can only hope this is so, but until then, there's more than just the need to stop these autocracies from building nuclears, there's also the need to stop Islamofascists from destroying democracies from within, as is happening in Europe right now, and even in other countries around the world. And that too is something that could take a long time to deal with properly.

More than 75% of Egyptian American Islamists voted for the Muslim candidate

While Egyptians inside Egypt were split in their vote in their recent election, Egyptians living in the West were overwhelmingly in support of the Islamist candidate. Indeed, many Egyptian Americans who have dual citizenship and are living in America voted at Egyptian consulates throughout the United States. They did so both in the primary Egyptian elections, which occurred a few weeks ago, and now in the recent final elections for president of Egypt between the Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Mursi and the former Prime Minister, Ahmed Shafiq.

Both Alarabiya TV and Egyptian national TV reported that Egyptian immigrants voted 75% in favor of the Muslim Brotherhood candidate in the primary. Now in the final elections, again Egyptian immigrants voted over 75% for Mursi. If we consider the Christian Egyptian Americans who voted for the former prime minister of Egypt, the percentage of Muslim Egyptian Americans who voted for Islamists could have reached over 95%.

While voters inside Egypt are almost equally split 50/50 between Sharia and no-Sharia, we find the votes of American Egyptian Muslims reflecting an unprecedented level of radicalization that surpasses most Muslim countries. This should be very troubling to Americans, especially to those who care about Homeland Security.

Over the last 3 or 4 decades, American Islamic groups and mosques have managed to radicalize a large number of Muslim Americans, especially those who attend mosques. While they publicly tell us they are “moderate” and that there is nothing to fear from Islamic law, they turn around in private and hold the banner of jihad and Sharia and command Muslim Americans not to assimilate in America.

It definitely is something Americans who value safety should take notice of, since any Muslims who could vote so willingly for an evil-promoting candidate could be quite dangerous even inside the United States too.

CBS:Documents: ATF used "Fast and Furious" to make the case for gun regulations

Documents obtained by CBS News show that the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) discussed using their covert operation "Fast and Furious" to argue for controversial new rules about gun sales.

In Fast and Furious, ATF secretly encouraged gun dealers to sell to suspected traffickers for Mexican drug cartels to go after the "big fish." But ATF whistleblowers told CBS News and Congress it was a dangerous practice called "gunwalking," and it put thousands of weapons on the street. Many were used in violent crimes in Mexico. Two were found at the murder scene of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.

ATF officials didn't intend to publicly disclose their own role in letting Mexican cartels obtain the weapons, but emails show they discussed using the sales, including sales encouraged by ATF, to justify a new gun regulation called "Demand Letter 3". That would require some U.S. gun shops to report the sale of multiple rifles or "long guns." Demand Letter 3 was so named because it would be the third ATF program demanding gun dealers report tracing information.

On July 14, 2010 after ATF headquarters in Washington D.C. received an update on Fast and Furious, ATF Field Ops Assistant Director Mark Chait emailed Bill Newell, ATF's Phoenix Special Agent in Charge of Fast and Furious:

"Bill - can you see if these guns were all purchased from the same (licensed gun dealer) and at one time. We are looking at anecdotal cases to support a demand letter on long gun multiple sales. Thanks."

On Jan. 4, 2011, as ATF prepared a press conference to announce arrests in Fast and Furious, Newell saw it as "(A)nother time to address Multiple Sale on Long Guns issue." And a day after the press conference, Chait emailed Newell: "Bill--well done yesterday... (I)n light of our request for Demand letter 3, this case could be a strong supporting factor if we can determine how many multiple sales of long guns occurred during the course of this case."

This revelation angers gun rights advocates. Larry Keane, a spokesman for National Shooting Sports Foundation, a gun industry trade group, calls the discussion of Fast and Furious to argue for Demand Letter 3 "disappointing and ironic." Keane says it's "deeply troubling" if sales made by gun dealers "voluntarily cooperating with ATF's flawed 'Operation Fast & Furious' were going to be used by some individuals within ATF to justify imposing a multiple sales reporting requirement for rifles."

The Gun Dealers' Quandary

Several gun dealers who cooperated with ATF told CBS News and Congressional investigators they only went through with suspicious sales because ATF asked them to.

In April, 2010 a licensed gun dealer cooperating with ATF was increasingly concerned about selling so many guns. "We just want to make sure we are cooperating with ATF and that we are not viewed as selling to the bad guys," writes the gun dealer to ATF Phoenix officials, "(W)e were hoping to put together something like a letter of understanding to alleviate concerns of some type of recourse against us down the road for selling these items."

ATF's group supervisor on Fast and Furious David Voth assures the gun dealer there's nothing to worry about. "We (ATF) are continually monitoring these suspects using a variety of investigative techniques which I cannot go into detail."

Two months later, the same gun dealer grew more agitated.

"I wanted to make sure that none of the firearms that were sold per our conversation with you and various ATF agents could or would ever end up south of the border or in the hands of the bad guys. I guess I am looking for a bit of reassurance that the guns are not getting south or in the wrong hands...I want to help ATF with its investigation but not at the risk of agents (sic) safety because I have some very close friends that are US Border Patrol agents in southern AZ as well as my concern for all the agents (sic) safety that protect our country."

"It's like ATF created or added to the problem so they could be the solution to it and pat themselves on the back," says one law enforcement source familiar with the facts. "It's a circular way of thinking."

The Justice Department and ATF declined to comment. ATF officials mentioned in this report did not respond to requests from CBS News to speak with them.

The "Demand Letter 3" Debate

The two sides in the gun debate have long clashed over whether gun dealers should have to report multiple rifle sales. On one side, ATF officials argue that a large number of semi-automatic, high-caliber rifles from the U.S. are being used by violent cartels in Mexico. They believe more reporting requirements would help ATF crack down. On the other side, gun rights advocates say that's unconstitutional, and would not make a difference in Mexican cartel crimes.

Two earlier Demand Letters were initiated in 2000 and affected a relatively small number of gun shops. Demand Letter 3 was to be much more sweeping, affecting 8,500 firearms dealers in four southwest border states: Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas. ATF chose those states because they "have a significant number of crime guns traced back to them from Mexico." The reporting requirements were to apply if a gun dealer sells two or more long guns to a single person within five business days, and only if the guns are semi-automatic, greater than .22 caliber and can be fitted with a detachable magazine.

On April 25, 2011, ATF announced plans to implement Demand Letter 3. The National Shooting Sports Foundation is suing the ATF to stop the new rules. It calls the regulation an illegal attempt to enforce a law Congress never passed. ATF counters that it has reasonably targeted guns used most often to "commit violent crimes in Mexico, especially by drug gangs."

Reaction

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, is investigating Fast and Furious, as well as the alleged use of the case to advance gun regulations. "There's plenty of evidence showing that this administration planned to use the tragedies of Fast and Furious as rationale to further their goals of a long gun reporting requirement. But, we've learned from our investigation that reporting multiple long gun sales would do nothing to stop the flow of firearms to known straw purchasers because many Federal Firearms Dealers are already voluntarily reporting suspicious transactions. It's pretty clear that the problem isn't lack of burdensome reporting requirements."

On July 12, 2011, Sen. Grassley and Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., wrote Attorney General Eric Holder, whose Justice Department oversees ATF. They asked Holder whether officials in his agency discussed how "Fast and Furious could be used to justify additional regulatory authorities." So far, they have not received a response. CBS News asked the Justice Department for comment and context on ATF emails about Fast and Furious and Demand Letter 3, but officials declined to speak with us.

"In light of the evidence, the Justice Department's refusal to answer questions about the role Operation Fast and Furious was supposed to play in advancing new firearms regulations is simply unacceptable," Rep. Issa told CBS News.

The Parallel Government
Of The Entire World

All of us, every single man, woman, and child on the face of the Earth were born with the same unalienable rights; to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And, if the governments of the world can't get that through their thick skulls, then, regime change will be necessary.

The Untold Story of Muslim Opinions & Demographics

Infidel Babe Of The Week
Moran Atias - TYRANT

IBA Quote of the Week.

Trump took the elements of an independent candidacy — the lack of clear ideology, the name recognition of a national celebrity and the personal fortune needed to fund a presidential campaign — and then did what no one seemed to have thought of before. He staged a hostile takeover of an existing major party. He had the best of both worlds, an outsider candidacy with crosscutting ideological appeal and the platform of a major party to wage the general election. By the time he had finished, he had taken down two political dynasties: the Bush dynasty in the primaries and the Clinton dynasty in the general election.

The Infidel Bloggers Alliance Radio Show

Gathering Storm Report Radio Show

"An Islamic regime must be serious in every field," explained Ayatollah Khomeini. "There are no jokes in Islam. There is no humour in Islam. There is no fun in Islam."

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"I want to be very, very clear, however: I understand and agree with the analysis of the problem. There is an imminent threat. It manifested itself on 9/11. It's real and grave. It is as serious a threat as Stalinism and National Socialism were. Let's not pretend it isn't."~~~~~Bono~~~~~